The invention relates to a new method of fabricating a lanthanum-strontium-manganese (LSM) perovskite.
The term perovskite is conventionally used to designate any substance presenting a structure of the ABO3 type.
A lanthanum-strontium-manganese (LSM) perovskite is a compound in which A is strontium-doped lanthanum and B is manganese. Its structure is of the following type:(La(1-x)Srx)(1-y)MnO3 
The lanthanum-strontium-manganese perovskite powders presently available on the market are used in particular in the fabrication of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathodes. They are generally fabricated by the following methods:                sol-gel/co-precipitation;        synthesis by solid sintering, e.g. as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,330; and        synthesis from precursors and pyrolysis.        
An evaporation-condensation method is also described in the document “Nanomaterials: new elaboration processes using solar furnaces”, Materials Science Forum, Vols. 269-272 (1998), pp. 297-302.
The article “Influence of synthesis route on the catalytic properties of La1-xSrxMnO3”, Solid State Ionics 131 (2000), 211-220 by Robert J. Bell, Graeme J. Miller, and John Drennan, also describes six methods of synthesizing lanthanum-strontium-manganese perovskite powders.
All of the powders obtained using the above-described methods present mean grain sizes that are quite small (submicronic) to medium (about 5 micrometers μm). They are expensive.
Methods are also known for fabricating single crystal lanthanum-strontium-manganese perovskite, e.g. from EP 0 732 430. Those methods are nevertheless expensive.
The article “Effect of spray parameters on the electrical conductivity of plasma-sprayed La1-xSrxMnO3 coating for the cathode of SOFCs” describes a coating obtained by plasma spraying. As stated on page 279, such a coating presents a lamellar structure that is not presented by a fused and cast product.